This invention relates to a machine for making bag-like two-compartment packages of a pliant material, particularly tea bags, each having a tag secured thereto by a thread, which are formed and closed exclusively by folding operations with the bag strip, filled with the substance to be packaged, being fed continuously to a machine comprising working units which are continuously circulated along a conveyance path and which working units are controlled by means disposed outside the conveyance path. Each unit comprises an assembly of folding members for forming the bag bottom, two raising arms for erecting the bag halves, and a receiving pocket in one raising arm for receiving the tag, the machine including a device for cutting the bag strip.
Such a machine, which has been disclosed, for example, in German Pat. No. 2,120,270, makes it possible to obtain a continuous output at a high working speed, even with tea bags which are formed and closed exclusively by folding, and where, consequently, the known means for manufacturing bags of a material capable of hot-sealing are no longer usable.
In this known machine, a part of the individual working devices are assembled into a unit and a plurality of such units are circulated, along with the workpiece, in sequence along an endless conveyance path. The other part of each individual device is partly mounted on an auxiliary conveyance means and moved along the main path in synchronism. The working operations are effected by members which are disposed outside the conveyance path.
With such measures, it is possible to achieve the desired continuity in the manufacture of tea bags of the kind in question. However, it has been found that the expenses of construction and the susceptibility to disturbances are still considerable, which is particularly due to the use of manufacturing devices moving along outside the conveyance path and to the necessary exact operational synchronism of these devices with the workpiece conveyed in the main path.